Thread: Winter gloves
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Old 12-09-09 | 11:00 PM
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Eclectus
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Joined: Dec 2008
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From: Kansas

Bikes: Cervelo RS, Specialized Stumpy, Schwinn 974

You'll get responses all over the map. Take your coldest day, and try something. If it works, you're set. If it's too hot and sweaty, go thinner. If your hands freeze, don't dump your gloves, keep what you got for warmer temps, and get warmer stuff for the really cold days. Tips for the latter situation: mitts or lobsters to enable your fingers to share warmth, total wind-blocking like Gore-Tex with sealed seams, or coated pu with sealed seams, thinsulate, primaloft, pogies with some gloves underneath, chemical handwarmers, electric handwarmers. Thin liner gloves when it's really cold to fix flats.

You can devise something that works really well for you. The key is to ride, try some different things, and decide what satisfies you the best. For example, I like fleece gloves, then fleece gloves with liners, then Gore-Tex mitts with the liners, then Gore-Tex mitts with the fleeces, then Primaloft mitts, then Gore-Tex mitts with Primaloft under mitts, and one of these will do it from 45 F down to -25 F. After fleece gloves with liners, ski gloves, suitably wind-blocking also work well. I haven't tried pogies, but they should be fine at wind-blocking, and you can go from naked hand to thin mitts, from 25 to well below 0 F.

Don't neglect your noggin and torso. If you keep these warm enough, your brain will channel circulation to your hands. If you don't keep them warm enough, your brain will shut off circulation to your hands to protect core temp. Which makes for cold, stiff, unresponsive fingers.

When you get "packages" that work at various temps, winds and lengths of rides, don't tell everybody, "This what you need." Instead, say, "These are what I use, you might want to give them a try." When people want or talk about "The One Perfect Glove", they ride in a limited temperature range. For example PI lobsters are good. Good at 25 F? Yes for a lot of people. Not everybody. Good at 5F? Not even close, for most people. But most people aren't going out at 5 F. A lot of people ride in the 30s and some 20s but go indoors below that. PI lobsters are a great glove for certain conditions.

Last edited by Eclectus; 12-09-09 at 11:16 PM.
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